Academic Vocabulary in Use

UNIT3

A、Verbs for structuring academic assignments

verbs	meaning
involved in	which are part of/included in
conduct	organise and do
illustrate	draw something in order to explain something
assume	accepting something to be true
find	discover by calculating
calculate	judge the number or amount of something and adding, multiplying, subtracting or dividing numbers
demonstrates	show, make clear
identify	recognise someone or something and say or prove who or what they are
challenge	questions whether it is true
affect	look at or consider carefully and in detail

B、More key verbs

verbs	meaning
classify	divide things into groups according to their type
establish	discover or get proof of
account for	explain
seen	see is often used in the passive in academic style
present	given
show	proved
attempt	(formal) tries

C、Verbs which combine with noun forms of key verb

verbs	meaning
explain	give/provide/offer an explanation (of/for)
explore	carry out an exploration (of)
emphasise	place/put emphasis (on)
describe	give/provide a description (of)

UNIT5 Key adverbs

A、Adverbs that compare

adverbs	meaning
comparatively/relatively	in comparison with something else
especially/particularly	more than usual
specially	more than usual (spoken English only) for a specific purpose
somewhat (opposite	considerably)
primarily	mainly Amir is primarily interested in bio-physics.
mostly/largely	almost completely (but not totally so)
directly (opposite: indirectly)	without anything else being involved housing.

B、Adverbs that relate to numbers or time

adverbs	meaning
approximately	[roughly, about]
precisely	[exactly]
frequently	[often]
eventually	[in the end, after some time]
Ultimately	[finally, after other things have been completed]

C、Adverbs that relate to how things are stated

adverbs	meaning
essentially	referring to its main characteristics; also basically
explicitly	openly
Generally	usually, also on the whole
implicitly	not directly, suggested or implied rather than stated

D、Adverbs that restrict or limit

adverbs	meaning
merely	exactly and nothing more
simply	[plainly]    [easily; someone who isn’t a specialist in the field]   [absolutely, without doubt]
hardly ever	almost never:

UNIT6 Phrasal verbs in academic English

A、Phrasal verbs and one-word synonyms

phrasal verb	synonym
put forward (an idea/view/opinion/theory/plan)	present
carry out (an experiment / research)	conduct
make up	constitute
be made up of	consist of
point out	observe
point up	highlight
set out (to do something)	aim
set out	describe
go into	discuss
go/look back over	revise, review *
go through	check

B、More phrase verbs

Phrase	meaning
go on to	do something after doing something else
work on	study, work in the field of
set up	prepared, arranged
work out	come to a conclusion about
go against	not be in agreement with
write it all up	(of an important document) write in a final form